Week 5: Add portfolio materials and install plugins

This post is the fifth in a weekly series that will take journalists through how to set up a professional-looking portfolio Web site. Find out more about the series and read the first, second, third and fourth posts if you missed them. Check back next week for more.

It’s Week 5 of the blog series, and now that you’ve done some groundwork, it’s time to put up your clips. Luckily for you, the entire WordPress community is going to be there to help you: They won’t write your articles or take your photos, but they will provide you with lots of plugins to make things easier.

So, gather up those articles, photos, audio slideshows, headlines, page designs, videos, podcasts and interactive graphics, and let’s get rolling.

How to upload your clips

You can do this one of two ways: Individually uploading them using the Upload/Insert tool on your WP Admin or by dragging and dropping them onto your server using your FTP program. (That’s the same one you used to install your theme.)

If you use the latter, just make sure you aren’t uploading files into your theme’s folder. That should be reserved for items that actually make up your site’s design.

For videos, I recommend Vimeo for hosting. There are some limits on how much you can upload per week for free accounts (paid “Plus” accounts with much higher limits are $60/year), but the quality is better than YouTube by leaps and bounds, as evidenced by this screen grab. (Watch the amazing video it’s from while you’re at it.)

For text stories, link to the online version on a news outlet’s site or post the text on your own site and provide a link to the original. What I’m trying to say: Don’t post loads and loads of PDFs of print stories if you can help it. They’re just not as reader-friendly online as they could be.

Granted for copy editing clips, there’s not really a way around the PDF issue when posting print clips, at least that I’ve found. Sorry.

For photographs and page designs, my guess is you’ll want to post a handful of your best photos and make them into a gallery of some sort. I’ll get back to how to do that in a second when we cover plugins.

(A general warning: Don’t rely on your former employer’s site to be the only source for your clips – especially if it’s a college outlet. If you’re simple going to link on a story on the DailyGazette.com’s Web site, I’d save a copy of the story on your server, too. When content management systems are updated, these can be lost or unpublished. I speak from first-hand experience.)

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Register for journalism entrepreneurship workshop

Any student journalist with half a brain can see that things in the industry aren’t pretty right now.

Layoffs are turning colleagues into former colleagues, and the lucky ones who get to stick around are finding they have a week or so more free time thanks to furloughs. Bottom line: The business model is broken.

Fear and hand-wringing accomplishes nothing, though. I’d rather do something about it.

If my fellow students and I want to find jobs after graduation, we may just have to create our own opportunties.

To learn how, UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications is offering us a little help.

The J-school is partnering the the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship to host a one-day workshop in Andersen Hall.

The basics:

• What: Envision Your Own Endeavor: Entrepreneurship in Mass Communications
• When: Friday, April 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Where: Andersen Hall on the UNL City Campus
• Cost: $15 for students, $25 for others
• Topics include:
  
  • “Own Your Future”
  • “Guts and Glory of Entrepreneurship”
  • “Nuts and Bolts of a Startup”
  • “What the Center for Entrepreneurship Can Do For You.”
• Registration forms are available online. (Turn in your forms soon, too! The registration deadline is Tuesday, April 21.)

One of the college’s newer professors, Carla Kimbrough, has been planning this event, and as a UNL student, I’m so happy to see someone spearheading this effort to bring the entrepreneurial spirit into the J-school.

Register now!

Twitter CEO Evan Williams is coming to UNL J-school

Next week will be – in a word – crazy.

On Wednesday, I’m giving what I hope will be a fun and lively talk on how student journalists should market themselves on the Web. As one of the few journalism and advertising double majors at UNL, I don’t understand why every student doesn’t have – at the very least – an online portfolio, resume and presence on social media.

Seriously.

And after Wednesday, you could know the basics of how to have all three.

The Wednesday event will also serve as sort of a crash course of sorts for what students need to know about the Web as they prepare for internships and the ever-tiring job hunt.

Plus, I promise to keep things fun.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on this by any means, but I figure that I’ve done enough trial and error on the Web that I should have some talking points worth a listen.

However, my talk is but an opening act for the main event that will take place Friday.

Twitter CEO Evan Williams (@ev) will be on at the J-School, and the College of Journalism and Mass Communications has planned a laid-back Q&A event for 3 p.m. in Andersen Hall.

If you’re a UNL journalism student, you do not want to miss this. But for student journalists who don’t call the Cornhusker State home, you’re still in luck.

The college will be livestreaming the Q&A on its Web site, and I will be moderating questions via Twitter.

Have a question about Twitter, or how it relates to journalism, or something else entirely? Send it to me at @emilyingram.

So, in short: Mark your calendars!

How to Market Yourself on the Web

Wednesday, April 8 at 5 p.m. in Andersen Hall (Room 15)

Q&A with Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter

Friday, April 10 at 3 p.m. in Andersen Hall (Room 15)

Douglas Rushkoff blows the roof off what you thought you knew

First off, don’t judge this video by its neon title slide. I promise it’s amazingly good and is unlike probably anything else you’ve run across lately on your RSS reader.

The official blurb about this keynote address:

Professor Douglas Rushkoff, Professor of Communications, NYU, provides insights into latest research on the transformative nature of the internet on the economic and social dynamics of consumers and users, and their commercial implications – vital information for regulators, industry and investors as they seek to remain relevant in this new ecology.

My translation:

Everything you think you know about how the Internet, economy and media intersect is wrong. Rushkoff explains what’s really going on.

(via Joey Baker over at CoPress)

It’s a long video and is pretty intense, but I assure you it’s well worth your time and brain strain.

CoPress and the problem of turnover at college news outlets

As I’ve risen through the ranks at the Daily Nebraskan, I’ve come to realize one major problem that is inherent in any college news organization: You will have a complete staff turnover roughly every four years. And, in most cases, turnover in top positions occurs at the end of each semester or academic year.

What that means is by the time you’ve settled into your new job and identified problems, you have only a short time to come up with a solution and get it implemented. That is if you can even figure out what that solution should be.

So how do we stop this frustrating cycle?

We share out knowledge and resources. And we do that through groups like CoPress.

What is CoPress?

If you’ve never heard of CoPress, stop right now and go poke around their site.

The guys behind CoPress are some of the most forward-thinking young journalists I’ve come across. Like most journalists today, they want to find a way to make news organizations sustainable online.

The difference is they are specifically focused on college news outlets and they’re working hard to provide resources to those who need them.

And believe me, we need all the help we can get.

A need for collaboration

The group’s recently redesigned site includes a message board that I hope will grow into a one-stop shop for tips from fellow student editors.

Last week’s discussion on the forum centered on how student news outlets need to collaborate. I could rework my original post, but I like how I said it the first time. In short, we need:

Notice the changes to EmilyIngram.com?

I’ve been working to keep my site’s content fresh and to make the design more reader-friendly. So in case you wondered what’s changed in the past week, here’s a rundown:

• Updated my portfolio page to include some audio and mapping projects I’ve worked on this past month
• Changed theme to Typebased by Woo Themes
• Fixed the error in the PHP code for the new theme.
  • I’m about 60 pages into a PHP how-to book, and I’m glad I’ve already got some use out of it. If you have no programming background but have looked at your WordPress source code some, I’d be willing to be you could understand this book. I’d recommend it for those looking to learn.
• Upgraded back-end system to WordPress 2.7 without any problems

That’s it. As far as work goes, we’re still pushing our Web-first mindset, and I’ll keep blogging about the obstacles and successes along the way.

If your student news organization is in the same boat, stay tuned for more tips on what has – and hasn’t – worked for us.

Copy editors take on Web duties: Lessons from Day 1

The Daily Nebraskan has joined countless papers around the country and integrated its Web and copy editing duties. Tonight was the debut of our new copyflow, and while we hit a couple bumps, it’s been relatively easy.

In keeping with my desire for more collaboration among student news outlets, I figured I’d give you the lowdown on what’s changed and the few tidbits of wisdom I’ve picked up on so far.

A comparison

Then: A Web department staffer would copy and paste all the stories from InCopy to into our CMS each night. It was pure shovelware: No outbound links, no related stories listed at the end of the story, no Web-first mindset.

Now: Copy editors who edit the stories also upload them to the Web, allowing us to make time for adding hyperlinks and related story boxes. Plus, stories get posted hours earlier than before.

My two cents

Make a step-by-step guide complete with screen caps

The more detailed, the better. If you’ve worked in WordPress or another CMS before, learning a new system can be easy-peasy. But I’m guessing this will be a first for more than a few of your staff members, so make things as painless as possible.

If you’re working in College Publisher 5 (like us), you realize the system has plenty of tabs and buttons. It’s usually easier to show rather than just describe them.

I’ll admit, It’s not exactly fun to put a detailed guide together, but multiple staff members have told me they like to have ours on hand as a reference. One who’d never worked on our site even used it as his only guide to upload a story while I was in class and no one else was around to help him. The copy editors who I’ve trained keep it in front of them as they upload stories, too, so it looks like it’s getting used.

Be flexible – and let others know what’s going on

I made a flub by not letting all the other section heads know that the copy desk would be taking on a few more duties tonight. A seemingly impatient editor can really frazzle a copy editor’s nerves, so ask your section heads to be understanding as your desk gets the hang of things.

Getting people to show up can be half the battle

Scheduling a training session with 10 people is never easy, and I had a less than 50 percent attendance rate at our first one. However, I did a second session later that day, meaning I only have a few editors left to meet with. Plan in advance and advertise the mandatory meeting like crazy.

Stress that this will be a resume-building experience

That’s no lie, either. A recent post by Mindy McAdams (@macloo)and a year-old classic post by Greg Linch (@greglinch) both highlight the need for journalists to have a diverse skillset. And if you’ve worked in one CMS, it’s much easier to learn another. If it’s between you and another internship applicant, you never know when your Web skills might just give you the edge. That rationale can be a good morale-booster if your staff feels a little hesitant or overwhelmed.

Nothing will ever go off without a hitch – and that’s A-OK

When you alter your newsroom’s copy flow, try to avoid any foreseeable problems, but realize some will pop up nevertheless. Each night will be a learning process, so relax and enjoy the adventure.

An unexpected perk

You might get better headlines out of the switcharoo

I’ve struggled to help copy editors see how Web headlines differ from print headlines. It seemed my handouts and e-mails weren’t doing the trick. So I was pleasantly surprised that the headlines on the site tonight were much more in line with what Web headlines should be. And I didn’t do any in-depth training on it, either.

I did give them a short list of pointers:

1. Be specific and use keywords.
2. Kill the cute stuff. (Search engines don’t grasp puns, plays on words, etc.)
3. Be clear and concise.

But I’ve given this same advice before and haven’t seen nearly as same results. My working theory is that copy editors take more ownership of their Web headlines when they’re the ones putting them on the stories. Whatever the reason, I’m psyched to see more SEO-friendly Web headlines on DailyNebraskan.com.

(P.S. Thanks to Lauren Rabaino (@laurenmichell) and CICM (@CICM) for their suggestions on Web-headline handouts. I ended up borrowing these bits from Journerdism’s slideshow.)

So how about you? Do you have any tips from when your news organization consolidated editing duties? Did I fail to answer a question you had about our new workflow? Comment away!

Sports-related inbound links bring rush of readers

Photo by beatboxbadhabit

Are you marketing your newspaper’s sports content to the people and Web sites that can bring in a rush of readers?

If not, you should be.

Today, our most-read story of the day got almost 10x the number of page hits that our top story of the day usually gets. The reason?

A reporter who owned his beat and was persistent in getting the story first … and then he sent a link to Huskerpedia.

The clearinghouse for Huskers news is a popular stop for football fans, and it drives a massive amount of traffic to the pages it links to.

Also, Max Olson, the reporter, kept at it all day and sent another two updates along as soon as he got more interviews done.

A round of applause to Max for his perseverance in getting the story.

Today’s takeaways:

• Get your reporters and editors to post links to their stories on message boards, social media, etc. A success story like this is a good motivator for everyone to keep that habit up, too.
• Nothing can replace the hard work that goes into getting the story. Max has been keeping tabs on a slew of recruits for a while. And though the Journal Star had a blog post up early this morning, Max beat them to the punch of getting a more detailed story up.
• Writing your story is not enough any more. You should be creating the traffic channels to get readers to your content, too.

Max did it again. This time, the recruit is a player from right here in Lincoln who happens to be the son of a former Husker safety. Pageviews are soaring once again after he sent the link to Huskerpedia.

It’s not a fluke. With diligent reporting and one little link, writers can make have a huge impact.

Why daily AP briefs confuse readers and how to solve the problem

Simon Dumenco at Advertising Age, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Actually, you explained something I struggle to articulate on my own: that sometimes media outlets focus so much on the latest updates and the day’s events that they miss the bigger picture that readers don’t yet grasp.

His post, How the Big Gulp Approach to News Makes Readers Scram, includes this particularly concise, yet powerful paragraph:

The Trib move just underscores what newspaper executives still don’t get: They’re in the business of producing a product that makes millions of consumers feel bad about themselves. The brutal reality here is really about content, not form. As much as newspapers think they’ve evolved over the years — adding colorful infographics and flufftastic lifestyle coverage — the problem is that they still produce information in a way that makes people feel unhappy. I’m not talking about ain’t-the-news-depressing unhappy. I’m talking unhappy as in readers thinking, basically, I just can’t handle that much information; I’m already overwhelmed! I don’t have time for this in my life! I can’t keep up!

He has a point.

For instance, I know plenty of friends who read each day’s updates about Israel’s recent offensive in Gaza, but they still didn’t “get it.” They didn’t understand the players, their history and their motivations.

We can publish all the death tolls we want, but if our readers don’t know why those people are fighting in the first place, we aren’t doing our jobs.

That’s because, in my view, our job isn’t just to publish the news. It’s to make sure our readers understand it.

I think it’s a myth that my generation doesn’t care about what’s going on around the world. I do think, however, that they are tuning out from news sources that emphasize troop movements and casualty counts when they don’t understand the context for those details.

Not that those details aren’t important, ’cause they most certainly are.

But I think that more often, we need to take a step back from grabbing the latest AP story, chopping it off after 10 inches (and thereby lopping off the background information), and thinking that today’s updates are what is most important.

Remember, our generation didn’t live through the history that is so important for understanding many of the world’s conflicts today and our high school (and often college) educations probably didn’t stress those events enough, either.

That’s where good, explanatory journalism needs to step in.

Who’s doing it now?

BBC’s Special Reports, especially their Q&A articles, are one great example. So is NPR’s Giant Poole of Money, which explained the financial crisis better than any other print, audio or video piece I’ve seen yet.

The New York Times has its Times Topics pages, like this one on Gaza, but personally, I don’t find it to be as engaging as the others.

Why?

Well, I think understanding these big, complex stories is intimidating enough. My guess is that readers are turned off when they see paragraph after dense paragraph of dense historical facts, and are more likely to think “I’m never going to be able to understand this.”

I did, however, love seeing that information, complete with photos and links to stories, in the Times’ interactive timeline about the issue.

So what’s my point?

Details and news of the day absolutely are important. We are journalists and it’s our job to document what’s happening around the world.

But … unless our audience understands what those latest updates mean in the grand scheme of things, we’re not doing our jobs.

What do you think?

• What are some other examples you found of pieces that made you finally grasp something that had been in the news for a while but still managed to befuddle you?
• Am I wrong entirely?
• Is there still time to do time-intensive explanatory journalism like the NPR piece with the industry struggling as it is?

[Photo by Álvaro Herraiz]